Plastic is ubiquitous in our everyday lives. It encases our food, it’s in the air we breathe, it’s in our blood. It’s hard to picture a world without plastic, but that world actually existed not too long ago. In A Poison Like No Other, Matt Simon takes us back in time to where it all began.

Considering plastic in the sea only as an “ocean problem” is an outdated narrative that must be abandoned. The sources — the uses of plastics in society — are where the solutions must come from.

The Plastic Pollution Reduction & Recycling Act (SB 54) was signed into law by California Governor Newsom in an effort to promote a pathway toward a circular economy and “turn off the tap” on single-use plastics in California. The bill aims to do this by reducing unnecessary plastic, supporting reuse and refill programs, and holding producers financially accountable for their packaging through extended producer responsibility (EPR) measures.

Read on to understand the nuances of this legislation and what it means for the future of plastics in California.

Our planet is awash in plastic pollution. We’ve found plastic on all 19 of our research expeditions, from the Galapagos Islands to the Arctic. It’s in the water we drink, the fish we eat, and even in our own bodies. The rate we are continuing to produce, use, and dispose of fossil fuel-based plastic is a systemic threat to the environment, wildlife, human health, and our entire planet.

But now, a global plastics treaty is on the horizon, giving us a glimmer of hope.

We traveled to Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and Dubai to survey plastic in the Gulf of Arabia, where a veterinarian said, “If you want to see plastic, follow me.”

We dug into the skeletons of five camels, finding large masses of tanged plastic bags and rope in their chests. One had an estimated 2,000 plastic bags inside.

As the nation held its breath on November 3, 2020, waiting on the decision on who will lead our country for the next four years, we collectively knew the results wouldn’t be available immediately. We all knew we would need to wait for the counting to end and the tallies to be added up and that ultimately our system would triumph. Today, we still wait for the results of an unprecedented election in an unprecedented time.

For nonprofits like 5 Gyres, government plays a critical role in our work as the gatekeepers to better laws that influence the way resources are used and disposed of. In particular, plastic waste has become a hot topic over the past ten years with mainstream media picking up on the global health crisis we’ve reported through our expeditions and first hand research. These findings, along with the findings and work of hundreds of other organizations that have emerged, are now being discussed by the public and elected officials alike. Without a foundation of science it would be an uphill battle to pass new laws to govern the use and disposal of plastic.

How do we reduce substantial plastic leakage into the environment—one of the greatest challenges we face as a society? In Summer 2020, Meridian brought together Marcus Eriksen of the 5 Gyres Institute and Stew Harris of the American Chemistry Council (a plastics industry trade organization) for a conversation on how to achieve this shared vision. They represent historically-opposed communities on the issue of plastics, but the conversation illuminated many shared values and ideas—as well as some differences of perspective that leave room for further dialogue.

5 years ago, the Sea Change Expedition sailed across the North Atlantic – the culmination of our global survey of plastic pollution, but are we any better today than we were then?

The tragedy of the pandemic has unleashed a flood of single-use plastics in the form of protective gloves and masks, and an exponential increase in goods delivered with throw-away packaging and materials. What world do we want to create when the economy re-emerges?

Americans throw away 35 billion plastic water bottles every year, and only 12 percent of these get recycled or downcycled. Metal cans, by contrast, are endlessly recyclable, becoming new cans over and over without deteriorating at all.

It’s no surprise to find a plastic candy wrapper frozen in an iceberg. You can’t watch trillions of bits of plastic, large and small, leave our communities globally and not expect the wind and waves to take it far and wide. The linear economy for plastics is failing people in remote communities and hampering the conservation of pristine places, but there’s a way out.